Air Force Academy leader delivers powerful speech on race after slurs found in dorms (CBS News)

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The leader of the Air Force Academy delivered a poignant and stern message on race relations in a speech to thousands of cadets after someone wrote racial slurs on message boards outside the dorm rooms of five black students.

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria warned students that he would not tolerate racism at the academy and invoked some of the racial tensions that have been gripping the country. At one point, he insisted that everyone in the audience take out their phones and record him so his message was clearly heard.

"If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, get out," he said Thursday as audience members looked on with rapt attention.

Damn. I am not certain that I have EVER heard anyone in a position of such authority speak with as much unambiguous clarity and focus as General Silveria did in addressing those cadets and staff. In a time when we are foisted with an incompetent and bigoted chief executive, to have such an example of inclusion and leadership makes me feel as though there is hope for this country yet. It would be my sincere hope that the message Silveria registered here goes positively viral, though both military and civilian channels, to make some kind of impact on the current scheme of things. I may be overly optimistic, but I feel as though his statements can make something more than a superficial difference. And if I put it in my quotations group, it's because 1) it's one HELL of a great quote and 2) I am glad to associate myself and this group with it.

And because his full address is so important, here is General Silveria's full statement: